


Old Soldiers Never Die

by TheRealSpartacus



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Relationship(s), Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-28 08:25:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7632463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRealSpartacus/pseuds/TheRealSpartacus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Morrison died with the old Overwatch- or, at least, his ideals did. But when Overwatch is reborn, can he abandon his investigations of Talon and the shadowy Vishkar corporation? And does the life he once lived still have a place for him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Soldiers Never Die

**Author's Note:**

> Going off the latest comic, I'm assuming in this fic Jack and Ana know each other are alive (and according to Blizzard, Pharah knows she's alive too) so that'll be important later.  
> No one else has any idea about Jack, Ana or Gabriel yet.
> 
> Just about the whole cast is gonna pop up eventually, but for the first few chapters it'll be Jack performing some Soldier 76 espionage shenanigans.
> 
> If there are any warnings for specific chapters, I'll stick them in here but it'll probably be fairly tame for the most part.  
> Feedback and comments are always welcome but be prepared for a long ride.

Vishkar was up to something, Jack Morrison knew it. From Mexico to India he had been investigating their “activities”, and now his search had brought him to China. Lijiang was a relatively minor city in the far southwest, Yunnan province, nestled just south of the easternmost edge of the Tibetan mountain ranges. More importantly, it was the site of Vishkar's Chinese headquarters, in the domineering Lijiang Tower complex in the centre of the city. A striking modern development in an ancient city, the skyscraper looked as out of place in the city as Vishkar did in China. Foreign companies were heavily restricted by the Chinese government, especially when using technology ahead of Chinese rivals- and there was no company in the world that could rival Vishkar's tech. Something was fishy.  
“Soldier 76?”  
The bar was small, cramped and seedy. Nestled in one of the cheaper areas of Lijiang's night market, Jack had identified it two days ago as a good place to meet a contact. More specifically, to meet the best contact he had in China- Mei-Ling Zhou.  
“Mei. Good to see you.”  
The Chinese woman took a seat at the table opposite the old veteran, dressed heavily in a winter coat despite the weather. She looked nervous. _Good for her_ , Jack thought.  
“I have some information on Vishkar. It- it's quite old, but anything recent is government-only.”  
She sounded as nervous as she looked.  
“Go on.”  
“They were a lot smaller than they are now when they arrived in China. I worked with them when I was just out of university. It was a good job for a recent graduate. They were paying very well. There was a lot of focus on climate control back then. It was before the Omnic crisis, so everyone was still worried about climate change and it's effects. Seems like it's just me now...”  
Mei trailed off for a second, taking a moment to study the man sat opposite her. Jack noticed her stare lingering on his face a second longer than most. _She's always been observant_. He nearly chuckled to himself.  
“Anyway, they'd made some kind of deal with the government. In exchange for unlimited use of Chinese research facilities and universities, Vishkar had to share all breakthroughs with them. Things are kicking off now because, well, I don't think Vishkar are keeping up their end of the deal. The government is used to controlling companies here in China, so they don't know how to force Vishkar to do what they want without forcing them out altogether, and they can't afford to lose Vishkar because they're so advanced. Just look at what they're achieving in Brazil! I think a lot of people here are dreaming about doing the same in Shanghai. But they can't do it themselves, and they can't convince Vishkar to do it for them.”  
“What is there in Lijiang that made Vishkar set up here?”  
“I don't know. I've heard rumours about experiments in the mountains, but nothing for sure.”  
 _In Dorado they had to build a pyramid for their reactor. What if they built it into a mountain here?  
_ “What kind of experiments?”  
“I have no idea. Sorry”  
The pair were interrupted by a beeping from the Chinese scientist's pocket. Fumbling to grab it, she pulled out a small phone. An alert flashed on the front- the Overwatch symbol.  
“Shénme? I'm sorry, but I- this is urgent.”  
“Overwatch is dead. Don't bother answering that.”  
Shock was written all over Mei's face. Shock that the man she knew as Soldier 76 had seen the symbol she was trying to hide.  
“I- I don't know what you mean. I have to go now. I hope I could help you.”  
She hurriedly stood from the table and rushed from the bar, leaving Jack alone. He took a moment to look around the bar, seeing no one else who had even noticed what had just happened, and then rose to his feet himself.  
 _She was more helpful than expected._ Mei had never been a full agent of Overwatch, acting only as a scientist before she was frozen. For her to have even agreed to meet with the international criminal Soldier 76 was a surprise, let alone for her to give him what little information she had. _Now, to the mountains._

  
The nearest mountain to Lijiang lay just North of the city. Although it was known for it's natural beauty, Jack wasn't interested in the sights. Further North just led to more mountains, and if Vishkar were going to hide a facility anywhere it was there. Getting there was no problem- for an enhanced super-soldier, most physical terrain poses no obstacle- but getting in was a different story.  
 _Six guards around the perimeter, three in a watchtower at the south gate._ For a small compound, Vishkar had invested in their defences. A heavy concrete wall surrounded a small courtyard with a cluster of buildings inside, a single gateway leading in and out via a small mountain road- only wide enough to accommodate a single vehicle. The courtyard itself was sparse and plain, three parking spaces lined along the east wall with the buildings to the west. A simple, efficient design, lacking the typical Vishkar showiness- this was probably a repurposed military base.

Jack's rifle was one of the few things he had kept following the fall of Overwatch. Once the finest tech available, now it was only marginally better than the guns used as standard by militaries everywhere. It was it's handler which made it deadly now, not any particular exceptional qualities of the weapon. That was not, of course, to say Jack hadn't made his own modifications. A launcher to fire rockets was a welcome addition for breaking into facilities like this, and by linking the targeting system to his visor Jack had found his accuracy improved tenfold- not that it was bad anyway, but 99.9% is an improvement on 99%.  
The first shot was important. If Ana was there she'd tell him to identify the leader and take him down first. Reinhardt would probably tell him to challenge the guy to an honourable duel for the right of access. Gabriel would just charge in guns blazing. Lena would just blink right past them. Jack chose to start things off with a bang.  
The gate was easy. The helix rockets blew it sky high, leaving an open route. The explosion took out the two guards in front of the gate, leaving seven to take out. Two were occupied trying to get down the stairs from the watchtower, leaving five active shooters. A quick burst of fire as Jack charged the now-destroyed gate made that four. The three remaining of those who had been outside the gate pulled back behind the thick concrete walls as alarms began to sound.  
 _Six on the ground, one sniper up high.  
_ Throwing down a biotic field, Jack took a moment to assess the situation. Once he was inside the compound he would be an open target for the sniper, but for now he was safe pressed against the walls. Heading through the gate he could take out all the shooters on the ground at minimal risk but the sniper could shut him down. Alternatively, he could take out the sniper first but be an open target to the guards on ground level.  
 _Ana would be a great help right about now.  
_ Deciding on a plan, he ducked out from behind his cover, opening up with a burst of fire that took down two guards in the open. One ducked out from behind a parked truck to be greeted with a bullet to the face.  
 _Four to go._  
Jack set off for the truck at a mad sprint, turning as he ran to spray the watchtower with fire and keep the sniper pinned. As he did, the remaining two hiding behind the truck greeted him with a hail of fire that clipped his left shoulder. There was no time to hesitate. Helix rockets fired into the truck made sure those two were gone for good, and Jack could now turn to taking out the sniper. With accuracy that Ana would be proud of, a headshot felled the final remaining hostile the moment he tried to line up a shot.

15 minutes. That was how long it would take an aircraft capable of carrying enough troops to deal with Jack to get to the facility from Lijiang. Therefore he had about ten minutes to spend in the facility if he wanted to get away without any risk of being caught up with. Factoring in the roughly three minutes spent taking out the guards, Jack had seven minutes to check the computers. Two minutes of this were spent using old Overwatch hacking tech to crack the passwords.  
The Vishkar OS was simple and egalitarian, at least. Searches for “Talon”, “Reaper” and “Widowmaker” came up with no results, but a search for “Overwatch” brought up a personnel file, one Satya Viswani. Jack made sure to copy it, along with the related file on Vishkar operations in Brazil. Next up was “Dorado”, giving a whole range of schematics for the Vishkar reactor in Mexico. “Lijiang” led simply to a block screen informing the user that access on Lijiang operations were available only to selected Vishkar operatives and Chinese government officials, and requesting a second password. Knowing he had no time to crack it, Jack copied one final file; on Soldier 76.

Sunlight was just beginning to crest over the mountains to the east when the first helicopter arrived. Jack was long gone by then. He knew he needed a safe place to view these files, which meant somewhere he would have network access not being monitored by the government, in a country not actively looking for him. Heading south to Myanmar or India seemed the obvious choice. So Jack decided to make for Korea. He had never been one for the easy option anyway.

 


End file.
